Warning of Out-of-Towners Preying on McHenry County Gamblers
Thought you might be interested in this warning from a Friend of McHenry County Blog:
I wanted to bring to your attention an issue that is near and dear to our hearts, one that we have been rallying against for some time.
Recently, a gentleman by the name of Robert Dellutri applied for a conditional use permit for a tavern and an off-street parking variance for his proposed video gambling business on Rte. 120 (near Angelo’s and Jewel). He stated that it would be “much like a Starbucks, a cafe serving coffee, soft drinks, and packaged food items
This machine has been removed because of the new law. Crystal Lake did not approve of slot machines.
The McHenry City Council voted it down. FOR NOW. Two council members voted in favor.
This is what is happening. Since our state legislators voted in 2009 to allow video gambling, we have business owners, who have no interest in preserving our communities, trying to make their money here and live in other cities (as in the case of Robert Dellutri of Aurora).
The potential is that opportunists will try to move into any vacant building and open up a tavern. This is exactly what Dellutri tried to do in a strip mall in McHenry under the ruse of a “cafe like Starbucks”. Starbucks doesn’t stay open until 2:00am and is not a “mini-casino”!
Cities in McHenry county (like Spring Grove and Johnsburg) that have approved video gambling may be targeted in the future.
Please call your pastors and alert them. Then call your Village Board or City Council members and let them know that you are against this expansion!
Out of towner- Aurora, Illinois, to be precise. The company he works for manages commercial real estate- such as the project he”s trying to get off the ground.
You may be surprised to learn that real estate is sometimes owned by individuals(and sometimes, even corporations) who don’t have a residence in the area.
I must be some kind of monster.
Here I am, sitting at my business in Chicago- but I don’t live in Chicago!
How can that be?
That must mean I can never petition any Chicago committee or agency for any permit or variance- because, after all, I’m an out-of-towner.
1Thank God that for now at least, some in our City Council have had enough sense to slow down the expansion of Pottersville (with apologies to “IT’S WONDERFUL LIFE”).
2A greater percentage of video gaming revenue goes to the State than the local community.
3Cal, you are a conservative. Conservatives want the govt off their backs. Here is some enterprising individual wants to put some slots in for people to play.
You seem to infer that people have to play, or they are somehow magically compelled to play slots. You suggest that there is some kind of addiction to these slots.
Ummm, no. First even if there were such thing as addiction to gambling (a totally made up thing by Baptists, I think), asking the state to curb it is clearly against your conservative morals.
Just sayin..
4